


Come Hell or High Water

by ToImagineIsEverything



Series: Idioms and Other Expressions of Love [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, F/F, Girl Penis, Knotting, Mating Cycles/In Heat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:35:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24597607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToImagineIsEverything/pseuds/ToImagineIsEverything
Summary: Hermione hasn't been feeling well for the past few days, feverish and achy with a heightened sense of smell. It's not severe enough that she wants to deal with St. Mungos and the influx of press that would bring to her door, instead she goes to see Andromeda Tonks in hopes that she'll have an answer to whatever ills her.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Andromeda Black Tonks
Series: Idioms and Other Expressions of Love [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1805986
Comments: 12
Kudos: 420





	Come Hell or High Water

**Author's Note:**

> Listen, you all have my best friend to thank for it, because when I was talking to them about writing another pairing in the fandom as an ABO AU and me being convinced they'd be in the background like "you do you sweetie" and instead telling me "that they hoped this wouldn't awaken anything in them," well. I took that as a dare, and started writing this fic instead because Andromeda Tonks is both a. underappreciated and b. their favorite. SO. Viola. *evil cackling in the background*

Hermione hadn’t been feeling right for the last few days. Her body was aching something fierce and she felt as if she had a fever constantly, which was bad enough on its own but now suddenly everything smelled so much more strongly she was constantly nauseous. In another world she might think that she was pregnant but since her one hurried time with Ron right before the war ended a little over a year prior, she hadn’t exactly had the time to have anymore tyrsts. What she probably had was a mild case of the flu, that was all, though it was _highly_ annoying, especially now. It had been two weeks since her graduation from Hogwarts, having gone back to complete her last year and now she was in the middle of interviews for a slew of positions at the ministry. Everyone wanted her, vaunted war hero that she was. She had choices to make. People to talk to. Information to gather. She didn’t have time to be sick.

Nor did she have the inclination to go to St. Mungos to figure out just what she had. A Pepper Up hadn’t fixed it, so it wasn’t a cold, and that had been the end of her own medical knowledge. But if she was seen entering the hospital by any reporters, it would somehow be front page news, and that was certainly _not_ what she needed right now either. So there was clearly only one option: Andromeda Tonks.

Hermione hadn’t seen her since the end of the war, but they had kept in touch via owl over her last year at school. She wanted to know how Teddy was doing at first and then she’d discovered that the older witch was a rather brilliant woman, which wasn’t really a surprise, but when had there been time to truly get to know anyone during the war? She was still learning things with every owl. So paying her a visit wouldn’t be completely out of the question, so long as she owled first. Goodness knew the other woman didn’t need her just showing up on her front step with a toddler in the house.

So she penned a quick letter to the woman, tied it to the leg of her new owl Neith, and sent her off after a few pats on her fluffy head. Crookshanks jumped in the window of her childhood bedroom and watched Neith fly off, flicking his tail, interested.

“You know you can’t attack her, what’s so interesting,” Hermione said, scratching his ears. The cat just looked up at her with a deadpan expression. Having a cat that was half kneazle was sometimes a rather interesting thing, though no more interesting than half the magical world, she supposed.

She flopped back down on the bed and groaned. She wished her mother still lived here to come and bring her soup and fuss over her while she waited for Andromeda’s reply. But her parents, memories now fully recovered in the summer after the war after a few false starts, had chosen to stay in Australia for now. Hermione had set them up with a good life and it was hard to leave, especially now that Hermione was an adult and ready to make her way in the world. She didn’t begrudge them their choice, but she did miss them, especially in moments like this. She didn’t feel grown and yet sometimes, when memories of the war washed over her, she felt as old as the mountains. It was a rather startling duality, and who couldn’t use their parents to help them navigate such things?

She closed her eyes and waited, slipping into half a doze. Whatever it was that was afflicting her had her more tired than usual as well, and tremendously hungry even through the nausea. Just what in the world was her body going through, verging on twenty years old, that required so much sleep and food? It wasn’t like she was about to have a growth spurt or anything. She had stopped growing for good in their sixth year as far as she knew. Considering she was now a decent average between her father and mother’s height it made sense. So it couldn’t be that, but she was at a loss for what else it could be, especially with the other symptoms. 

Her brain continued to puzzle over it as she drifted in semi-conscious, but it never did come up with a plausible answer. She knew so much, but even her brain could fail her at times. She was startled out of her rest by a tap on the glass. She sat up to see Neith flapping her wings outside the window, giving a happy hoot as she saw Hermione stir, a new note strapped to her leg. 

She turned to Crookshanks who had laid down on the bed with her in the intervening time. “Behave.” And then went to open the window. Neith flew in to her perch, ruffling her feathers before settling down with a pleased expression, holding out her foot for Hermione to take the letter attached to it.

“Thank you.” She untied the letter and then gave the owl a few treats for a job well done before turning away and laying back down on her bed on her stomach this time. She opened the letter to find Andromeda’s elegant scrawl inside. 

“Hermione, Teddy is going to go to Harry’s for the weekend this afternoon, actually. After two would be a good time for you to come over and I can check you out. I should have everything needed for anything that doesn’t require a trip to St. Mungos. We’ll have you fixed up in no time, and if you’d like to stay for tea afterward, that would be delightful. I find myself in need of conversation that doesn’t involve the screaming of random animals or colors. Bless Teddy, but he isn’t much of a conversationalist just yet. 

See you in a bit,

Andromeda”

Hermione smiled at the note. Tea with Andromeda sounded lovely, honestly. She’d love to get some face to face time with the older witch after all their letters. Hopefully whatever was going on with her was a quick fix and she could just spend a nice afternoon with the other woman. She glanced up at the clock, a little after ten in the morning. She yawned again. Well perhaps she better catch a nap for a couple hours before getting up and getting ready to make sure she was as well rested as possible for her outing.

She pushed herself off the bed enough to slip under the covers. An alarm was set with the flick of her wand and she curled up with her pillows. To say she was looking forward to having whatever this sickness was be over was an understatement. She hated taking naps. They didn’t feel productive, and yet, within a minute, she was out cold, slipping into some rather heated dreams that had her jolting up when her alarm went off two hours later. She panted, looking around her room with wild eyes. She tried to remember just what had been happening. She had the feeling she was being taken from behind, and she vaguely remembered it was by someone she knew, but she couldn’t remember who. The more she thought about it, the more the dream faded away. She frowned and shook herself. Whatever, she was a grown woman, sex dreams were a normal part of that. She hadn’t had a good orgasm in a while. Maybe once she was better she would spend some quality time with herself and then she wouldn’t wake up absolutely drenched between her thighs. She pushed herself out of bed and started getting ready for her trip to Andromeda’s, face scrunching at the sticky feeling of far too much wetness left unattended. Good thing she had already planned on showering.

\--

By the time Hermione apparated to Andromeda’s door she felt significantly worse. If burning alive were possible while she wasn’t on fire, that definitely what she was doing. It might be worth just apparating to St. Mungos, but then Andromeda might worry and she didn’t want that. So she knocked on the door, leaning against the door frame while she waited for the other woman to bustle to open it.

The door snapped back to reveal a smiling Andromeda, but her smile quickly fled on seeing Hermione. “Hermione? Your note didn’t make it seem like you were quite this poorly.” She darted out and looped her arm under Hermione’s and helped her inside.

“I wasn’t until about thirty minutes ago and then I’ve just kept getting worse. I don’t know what’s wrong, but the fever has definitely gotten worse. I feel like I’m about to combust.”

The woman felt her forehead with her free hand as she led them back to a comfortable living room and an overstuffed couch. She gently lowered Hermione to the cushions and stepped back. “You are _very_ warm.” She frowned and pulled out her wand. “One second and I’ll run through the normal diagnostics and then we should have a better idea of what’s going on.”

Hermione nodded and watched the other woman work quickly through the usual barrage of tests healers performed. She’d been on the receiving end enough times in her life with all the adventures with the boys. Merlin knew she even knew how to perform a great many of them from their time on the run. There weren’t exactly a lot of healers for undesirables numbers one to three and it wasn’t as if the boys could be trusted with such fine magic, they hadn’t the patience for it. From what she was seeing, everything was coming back normal, though there were a few spells she didn’t recognize and therefore had no idea who to interpret. 

“Nothing is immediately obvious. It certainly isn’t a strain of flu, that would have been picked up. Not unless it’s something completely new, which is unlikely since it’s almost summer.” She huffed. “Well then, time for a round of twenty questions yes?”

Hermione laughed. “A healer’s favorite game.”

“Of course, I just love to torture my paitents.” Andromeda winked with a smile. “Now, date of your last menstrual cycle.”

“Uh,” she had to think for a moment, “a little over two months ago, I think.”

Andromeda looked concerned. “That’s a long for someone your age, but you aren’t pregnant so that rupees that out.”

“It’s been weird since the end of fourth year.” Hermione didn’t figure she needed to explain why. The stress of growing up as Harry Potter’s best friend in a world where Voldemort had returned, well, it wasn’t exactly conducive to letting a body do what it should. She’d been rather more focused on survival. “It stopped all of last year while we were on the run. Bit of a blessing really, not having to deal with that in the middle of the woods, even if it wasn’t healthy. I’ve been checked out since and the healer I talked to before I went back to school after winter break said I was fine, just that it would take a bit to straighten out again after such a big disruption.”

Andromeda nodded at the information. “Alright then. Have you been in contact with anyone else who’s acted sick over the last three weeks?”

Hermione shook her head. “Three weeks ago I was finishing up my N.E.W.T.s so everyone was so stressed that we didn’t have time to get sick. None of the other younger students showed anything other than normal end of the year stress either. Ever since I’ve been in and out of the ministry with interviews. It’s possible that I could’ve picked up something there without knowing it, but no one looked like as sweaty a mess as I feel.”

“And if there had been something going around the ministry it would have gotten around the healer community by now. Hmm. Any particular smells set you off?”

Hermione cast her mind back to the past week or so since she’d noticed the change. “No, not really. I’m never in one place often enough to see if the smells there trigger it or not. If anything, I think I’m just noticing the smell of other people more, if that makes sense? It’s like it’s too loud, but for smell alone.”

A shadow crossed Andromeda’s face. “Hermione, I think I know the answer to this considering the fact that you were under enough stress that you didn’t even have periods, but did you ever present?”

“No.” Her face scrunched. She remembered a significant portion of her year doing so between fifth and sixth years, she suspected a few more probably did as well in the seventh year she hadn’t been able to attend. It hadn’t exactly looked like something she wanted to go through. And she hadn’t, which wasn’t so abnormal either. She just figured she was a beta and that was that, especially now that she was almost in her twenties. Most people presented somewhere in their mid-teens if they did at all, a few in the later teens who were late bloomers, but Hermione hadn’t matured that late to suspect she’d be one of those. She’d started her monthlies at twelve which was right smack in the middle of the expected range.

Andromeda closed her eyes and let out a quiet breath. “Then I have another test to run.” She motioned with her wand and Hermione watched a bright green sigil flow from the tip. The older witch opened her eyes to look at the result and she nodded. “Well then, that’s confirmed.”

“What’s confirmed?” She hadn’t recognized the sigil, though it obviously meant something. 

“Hermione, you’re an omega. I suspect you never presented because of all the stress you were under as a young girl. Now that your body has actually learned that it’s not in the middle of a war, everything is starting to come online. The sickness you think you’ve had for the past week or less have been your body getting ready for your first heat. Did they not cover this in your education?”

Hermione shook her head. “I was pulled from muggle school before they covered it in detail and Hogwarts doesn’t exactly do the best on sex education. I got the talk from my parents, but they’re both betas so they didn’t really know the finer points beyond what happened during a heat or a rut.” She sat there for a long moment, swallowing. An omega. Hell. That was going to play havoc with her plans to become the youngest minister of magic. The wizarding world was better by leagues, but if she got pregnant before she truly wanted, she wouldn’t be able to put in all her effort into advancing up the ranks at the ministry. Of course she did want children, but just at the right time. And being an omega made that a bit more difficult, though nowhere near impossible. Which considering her past was decent enough odds.

“Ah, well, that would explain it.” Andromeda took in a deep breath. “Considering I can’t yet smell you, I’d say you’re still a day or more out from entering pre-heat as the last of the changes your body needs to make finalize. You’re not going to get any more comfortable, in fact you’re going to rather become more of a ‘sweaty mess’ as you put it before your body finally catapults you into your first heat. From what I’ve been told the first is especially rough considering how long the changes beforehand took and how much energy they drained.”

“Isn’t there a suppressant potion I can take to mitigate at least some of that?” If being sick had been throwing a kink into her plans, having to take five or so days off to be on heat leave would be even worse.

“Not for your first time. Your body has to have the first heat outright for things to settle as they should.” Andromeda met Hermione’s gaze. “However, since you are an adult and I suspect have no trouble finding a willing bed partner, there is a way to ease the strain.”

Well it was easy enough to read that writing on the wall. “Find an alpha to share my heat with.”

Andromeda nodded. “That would be easiest. And you would get the most relief if you let them knot you. Without first being on a contraceptive potion. The inhibition of the hormones from the potion limit the relief. That being said, taking an emergency contraceptive potion and using the charm after your heat fades is about as effective as taking one beforehand.”

“What are the numbers between the two.” It wouldn’t mean anything without actual hard numbers. About as effective could mean just about anything and she wasn’t about to take that chance.

“Beforehand, your odds are about 99 percent that you won’t get pregnant. Combine that with a charm after the heat is over and it goes up to about 99.95 or so. Taking it afterwards with the charm is about 96 to 97 percent effective. Taking everything afterwards also has the advantage that it will make your heat shorter since your body thinks it has achieved what it needs to, about three to five days instead of five to seven.”

“And how much does taking a partner instead of just riding it out alone really reduce the discomfort?”

Andromeda ran her hand through her hair, huffing out a breath. “Well I don’t have hard evidence for this, no one has done a comprehensive survey considering it would mostly be asking minors and no one has got up the gumption to do so, but.” She bit her lip for a moment, looking sad and far away. “Ted said that his first heat without me in our sixth year was quite possibly the worst thing he’d experienced until that point. Considering you survived war and my sister, I don’t think you would believe it that bad…”

“If I didn’t have to experience it, however.”

“Exactly. And my sister, well, rules never did apply to her. She and Roldolphus snuck away her fifth year and spent a few days together. She said it was rather decent, all things considered. Told me I should do the same when I presented. Of course things are a bit different for an alpha, but well, I hadn’t presented yet so.” She shrugged.

Hermione blinked. She’d never really considered what the other woman was. She’d read about betas just assuming everyone was a beta. They were the most abundant secondary sex after all and they didn’t have the sense of smell to root out who was who otherwise. If pressed she would have indeed guessed omega. But alpha. She could feel the stirrings of _something_ in her hindbrain at the realization, but didn’t press into that any further. 

“So. Shorter and definitely a happier experience.” Hermione huffed out a breath. Well stuck between a rock and a hard place once again. And here she thought after the war she would stop getting herself into these situations, but no, of course not. Not that this situation was life or death, but still, it was truly annoying. Here she was determining her path for the rest of her life, and fate just had to get in one last little gut punch. Hadn’t she done enough as a war hero to be left alone?

Apparently not.

“Yes. So. If you know an alpha you trust, you might want to think about it.”

Hermione sighed and tilted her head back on the couch cushion behind her. Who did she even know that was an alpha? Bill, but he was with Fleur, Dean Thomas, but he was with Seamus, Viktor but he was in Bulgaria, Luna, but she was fairly sure she and Neville were a thing, if only very recently, and then there was Lucius and Draco Malfoy, which she would rather die first even if they had turned to the light at the last minute, Katie Bell, maybe Anthony Goldstien if she remembered right, Padma Patil, maybe Hanna Abbott, or was it Susan Bones? It had been one of the Hufflepuff girls in her year, but all of those people she’d lost contact with after sixth year. So she knew no one basically. Wonderful.

“I don’t know anyone, really, not who aren’t either taken, I’ve lost contact with, or a Malfoy.”

“Oh.”

Yeah that about summed it up. “So I guess I’m stuck riding it out on my own.” A sudden thought struck her. She sat up to look at Andromeda again. “You don’t think that it will be any worse because I’ve been delayed from presenting for so long, do you?”

Andromeda looked her over carefully. “I’m not sure. Your case is a relatively rare one and I haven’t read any case studies about someone like you. But.” She paused considering her words for a moment. “What I can tell you is you do look a little worse off than most people I’ve seen going into their first heats. Usually people don’t look like they’re about to fall off their feet until the day of, maybe late on the day before.”

“And here I am two days before give or take before my heat and yet I’m like this.” Hermione started to twirl the ends of her hair around her fingers, an old nervous habit that she’d thought she’d broken herself of. Apparently not in the face of all of this. Wonderful. Hermione pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand. “Now what?”

“I’d prepare for a rough few days. Stock up on supplies, cook a few meals that you can eat cold and with your fingers. Hydrate. Have someone check in on you once a day at least, if not twice to make sure things aren’t going wrong in some unforeseen way.”

Hermione bit the inside of her lip. The obvious answer was to have Molly check on her. It wasn’t like the older woman wouldn’t understand being an omega herself, but still, she felt her face flaming at the thought. The other woman would fuss over her for the rest of her life, she was sure, and while Hermione wouldn’t mind a bit of fussing, the rest of her life was going to be a bit excessive. She suddenly understood why Charlie had gone off and become a dragon tamer. Ginny was the obvious next choice but she was already off at training camp for the Harpies and wouldn’t be able to just pop in on her as needed. Harry or Ron would be better as far as continual fussing, but they wouldn’t be comfortable doing it, and she wasn’t really either at the thought. She groaned. How was she so well known and yet so isolated at the same time?

“I guess Molly could come check on me…” She was really the only choice between her and the boys. 

“Ah.” A rather comical expression crossed Andromeda’s face,, a mix of a grimace and a grudging acceptance. “She will take care of you, I suppose. Perhaps too much, especially now with an empty nest and no war to worry on.”

“Yeah,” Hermione buried her face in her hands. She sighed heavily. So this hadn’t been her plan in the slightest, but she supposed she would figure out what all this meant. She was a planner after all.

“Hermione, if you’d rather...well, as a healer I do know a few charms that would let me check in on you long enough to establish your well being without any ill effects on us both.”

Hermione pulled her head up, expression already shifting to hopeful openness. “Really?”

Andromeda nodded, her hands wringing a bit in her lap. “It’s easy enough. The charms only last for about ten minutes or so, but that’s long enough. I’ve been on the receiving end of Molly’s mother affections and she’s only nine years older than me. I imagine for someone the age of one of her actual children it’s only intensified. A brilliant, lovely woman, but if you need space to come to terms with something, well, she’s not the best at giving that. And considering that I have a strong hunch that you thought this wasn’t going to be an issue you had to face, you don’t need fussing, you need space to figure out where to go from here and when you should tell everyone, which of course will only be after you’ve decided on at least the first few steps of your next plan.”

“Yes, exactly.” Hermione relaxed a bit at being so understood.

“Well then, it’s settled. I’ll check on you a couple times a day to make sure everything is going smoothly. Then you can tell Molly when the time is right and you don’t mind the fussing so much.”

Hermione laughed once. “You know a few hours ago I wished my mother was home to fuss over me and make some soup? I’m rather glad she’s not home now.” Her heart stopped beating in her chest at that image. Just what in the world would she have done if her parents had decided to move back home the year before? What a nightmare, going into heat and having to be quiet about it on top of everything else so once it was over you could still look your parents in the eye. No thank you.

“I don’t doubt it.” Andromeda tucked her wand away and sat back. “Now, would you still like that tea, or are you too tired to be up for it. If you still have a couple days, might as well enjoy them, yes?”

Hermione nodded. “I took a nap right before I came over anyway, and tea certainly never hurts.”

Andromeda chuckled and stood. “Then I’ll be right back and then you can tell me all about how your N.E.W.T.s went.”

\--

Hermione knew the _exact_ moment her heat started in full. Sure she had been horny as a teenager, almost painfully so in some rare instances where some sort of stress or another wasn’t weighing her down terribly, but this was _more_ , so much more. This was unrelenting, all consuming, soul crushing need. She felt like if she wasn’t pinned down and fucked by some big strong alpha she was surely going to die. And the pain of being empty was even worse than that. It was a sort of physical and emotional anguish that was only surpassed in her experience by quite literally being tortured. She definitely saw why Ted Tonks had said it was the worst thing that had happened to him up until a certain point. It would be rather hard to out strip this.

So now Hermione lay on her bed, sweating profusely, hotter than she had perhaps ever been, with a vibrator she had hastily bought in preparation for this between her thighs. She’d lost track of how many times she’d come. It brought an instant of relief that ebbed far too soon. She knew she was sore and most likely raw from just how much she’d already rubbed herself, but she couldn’t feel it. All she could feel were the sparks of pleasure that jolted across her skin. She should probably find a healing potion sometime soon just to make sure she didn’t accidentally cause more permanent damage somehow. But that was neither here nor there right now. If she didn’t reach her next peak soon she might actually go insane. She whimpered into the pillow and thrust her hips down into the vibrator, trying to get enough friction to send her over the edge. But how could there really be any friction with just how wet she was? It was a rather frustrating dilemma.

She heard the tell tale pop of apparition in the backyard. She’d sent Andromeda an owl as soon as she’d finally crossed over from pre-heat to full blown heat. It had been hard to hold the quill, harder to tie the message onto Neith, but she’d managed it. So this was the witch making her first round of checking on her. Hermione closed her eyes and prepared herself. She wanted Andromeda to check on her. It was the best option out of the ones she had, but that didn’t mean that actually being in the situation now, with the older witch about to see her mid-wank was any easier. While they were friends, this was more than just taking it to the next level of friendship, it was skipping at least a good ten levels entering the level of best friends since childhood or friends about to cross the line into lovers. But it was fine. She was a medical professional. Andromeda knew how to handle these things. She’d be able to look her in the eye after this, with perhaps a week to come to terms with everything. It wasn’t the end of the world. It wasn’t. Truly.

The back door creaked open and then closed again. There were footsteps on the stairs, and then her bedroom door was cracked open. “Hermione, how are you doing, dear?”

“I think I might be dying,” slipped out of Hermione’s very parched mouth before she could really stop and think about the words. She had no mental capacity except for the part of her brain that kept her hips moving, chasing the fleeting relief of orgasm.

“Have you drank anything recently?”

“I can’t remember,” she replied honestly. It had probably only been a few hours, but with as much as she was sweating, she should be drinking more, and yet that would require stopping and she couldn’t do that.

“How is the pain?”

“Overwhelming.”

There was a pause from the doorway. “Hermione do you mind if I come in further?”

Hermione didn’t have that much space to think about it. The easiest answer was, “Don’t care.”

“Ok then, I’m coming in to run a few diagnostics to make sure nothing is wrong.” The door opened wider and Andromeda stepped in, glowing softly. Hermione’s breath caught in her throat. She looked really pretty like this, the magic covering her like a blanket, protecting the both of them from unintended actions. She waved her wand over Hermione, but she’d stopped paying attention to the medical readouts within a second. It was so much better to focus on Andromeda’s face. So pretty. And an alpha. She needed an alpha. She trusted Andromeda. Why didn’t she ask Andromeda to be her alpha again? There had been a reason, hadn’t there?

“Everything looks normal but…” Andromeda trailed off, looking over Hermione. “How many minutes of rest has each orgasm been giving you?”

Hermione’s eyes met hers, startled. She was supposed to be getting some sort of rest between orgasms? Merlin, that would be a blessed relief, but it hadn’t come yet. “None, thirty seconds maybe.”

“Salazar’s fucking bollocks.” Her wand was waving again, patterns that Hermione couldn’t pick up. She hit just the right spot and finally came again, screeching out her release, not really caring that Andromeda was only a few feet away from her. She breathed easier for a few seconds as the peace the orgasm brought her washed over her. She managed to push herself up to grab one of the many bottles of water she’d left on the nightstand, opening it with trembling hands, and downed the entire thing in one go before her body was demanding it be touched again.

“Oh Hermione. Oh this is beyond even what I thought it would be.” Andromeda let out a tired, worried sigh. “I don’t even know how long it will last like this, but I don’t think it will be any less than seven days.”

Seven days. Like this. No sleep, barely any water, and most likely no food. How in the world was she supposed to get through that? Even if she made it through, was she supposed to be sane at the end of it? If she could make it through Bellatrix’s torture but not her own heat, what did that say about just how bad it had been? What was she going to do? She couldn’t continue like this. She just couldn’t.

“What do I do?” Hermione whined. She needed to do something, anything. If there was something she could do, she’d do it in a heartbeat right about now.

“When I asked you about alphas you knew, you didn’t ask me if I would be willing to help you, even though no one else you knew or trusted could. Why didn’t you ask me?” 

Hermione blinked up at her, struck rather dumb by everything that was going on. On her own problem she could concentrate out of sheer necessity, but this was a bit more than that. What did Andromeda need assurance or something? She’d give it to her, but right about now it wasn’t exactly going to be the best.

“Didn’t think you’d want to.” Who really would only being two years out from losing the love of your life, your child, her husband, and being left to take care of the grandchild in their wake. It didn’t exactly scream available for a bit of a fling.

Andromeda looked at her, bemused expression on her face. “I consider you a friend, Hermione, and if there’s one thing that I didn’t mind about being a Slytherin, it’s that we go above and beyond for our friends and family. I would’ve said yes. I’m not sure I would’ve even hesitated.”

She would have helped her through her heat? So she wouldn’t be going through this right now? Oh Merlin, just that concept was enough to have her whimpering. “Would’ve?”

“Well, you aren’t exactly in the right frame of mind to truly consent, are you?”

Hermione tilted her head into the pillow she was half laying on now after her little water bottle stunt. “No, but I might be even worse off if this keeps up. I need something to help. Please. After all of this I’m not about to turn around and say you took advantage of me. I need help. I’m desperate. And I trust you, Andromeda.”

“Are you sure?”

There was no doubt in her mind. “Of course I am.”

The next second the glow of magic dropped and Andromeda was left standing there on her own. She paused for a long moment before she blew a breath out, and looking directly into Hermione’s eyes she took a deep breath in. A shiver wracked Andromeda’s frame and a flush began to gather on pale cheeks.

“You know the gist of what happens next?”

Hermione nodded. “Sympathetic rut. It’ll end when my heat hormones tail off. Until then we’ll be fucking or tied most of the time.”

“Yes, that’s right.” She took another deep breath, shedding the light summer cloak she wore. “I’m going to owl Harry, do you mind if I use your owl?”

Hermione shook her head. The woman could send Neith to China right now and she didn’t think she’d really care. Sending her to Harry, who liked owls more than other common house pets and doted on them with far too many treats was the least of her worries. “Teddy?”

“Mhm, I told him I had a patient that might need extra care this week. He gladly stepped in to watch him. Truly, the boy is a godsend of a godfather. I’m not sure what I would do without him.” She ran her hand through her curls and sighed. “Do you have the emergency contraceptive potion?”

Hermione gestured to the drawer of her nightstand. She’d stored all the relevant potions there before this had all began. She’d bought one just in case even though she hadn’t planned on taking anyone to bed. They didn’t expire that quickly, so she could’ve saved it for her next heat, and being over prepared was practically her middle name.

“Good.” And then she walked off to find parchment and paper.

Hermione whimpered as she walked by, smelling alpha in the very beginnings of rut. She needed her. Oh Merlin, she needed her. She felt herself pumping out an extra dose of pheromones without meaning to. It was instinct alone and she buried her face in the pillow again. She’d never felt this out of control. And now they would be once a year every year of her life until menopause. Why couldn’t she have just been a beta? She groaned, hips once again finding the right rhythm to drive her higher, but with an alpha in the room, somehow it felt even better than before, like she might actually get a bit of a break this time. She felt tears prick at the sides of her eyes. A break, oh Godric, what she wouldn’t give for a break.

Andromeda returned just as Hermione was screaming out her next orgasm. She heard a soft growl coming from the other woman, but she couldn’t look up at her. No, she felt truly boneless for the first time in hours. Her eyes slipped closed and she let herself relax into the bed.

Gentle hands landed on her body, rolling her over, grabbing the vibrator from the bed and throwing it across the room hard enough that Hermione heard something crack. Bloody hell, just how hard did you have to throw something like that to crack plastic? Her hindbrain perked up at that thought. A strong alpha. A strong alpha was there and she was touching her.

A sigh escaped Andromeda’s lips. “I’ll replace that when this is all over. For now I apologize for that.” A growl entered her voice as she continued, “but not even a sex toy touches an omega when I’m in the room. I will be the one calling the shots from now on.” Hermione heard her swallow hard. “Do you understand, darling? If it’s too much I can still leave, but not for much longer.”

No. No she definitely couldn’t leave. “No, alpha please, tell me what to do. I need you. Only you. No sex toys. Nothing but you.” Hermione managed to open her eyes to find Andromeda’s hands working the catches on her robes, dropping them to the floor with little fanfare, leaving her in a tank top and jean shorts in deference to the approaching summer. Hermione’s breath caught. She hadn’t ever seen the other woman so casual before and yet she wanted nothing more than to see her like this more often. She blinked at that thought, but filed it away for later. There were much more pressing things. Like the fact that Andromeda’s hands were going for the hem of the tank top to pull it over her head.

“Dear Circe, Hermione.” Andromeda accidentally ripped the hem of the tank top trying to pull it over her head. “You can’t say such things and expect me to maintain any sort of control.”

Hermione’s mouth went drier than it already was. She felt her omega instincts begging for her alpha to not be in control. She wanted to be fucked like there was no tomorrow, knotted and bred over and over again until she was full of come and there was no way that she wouldn’t fall pregnant. She bit her lip hard not to just say those things out loud. That wasn’t her rational brain speaking. But.

“I actually prefer it rough,” she said instead, which was true enough of her limited experience. Her time with Ron had started frantically leading into hard and fast sex and she had enjoyed it much more than the slow second round, though that had been decent enough too.

Andromeda snapped the button off of her shorts, dropping the metal to the ground with a frown. “Well then.” She cleared her throat and grabbed her wand up again, silently summoning a vial to her hand. From the look of the golden liquid, it was dittany. She handed it over to Hermione. “Drink half of that, it looks as if you’ve rubbed yourself raw in a few places and I can’t have that.” 

Echoes of a long ago forgotten sex education class in fifth grade came calling back to her _“alpahs take care of their omegas in all aspects of life”_ and the thought made her feel warm. She took the vial and drank exactly half as instructed and handed it back. Andromeda capped it and opened the drawer Hermione had indicated earlier with all the potions and dropped it in.

“Have you eaten since this morning?”

Hermione shook her head. She had no idea what time it was. She’d managed to choke down some toast and fruit, but eating in the late stage of pre-heat hadn’t exactly been too attractive. Her body wanted to be as unburdened as possible for the coming activity. Fucking on a full stomach wasn’t exactly the most conducive thing in the world, much as it could be done.

Andromeda opened and closed a few other drawers in the nightstand before she came across a packet of granola bars. She took out two and handed them both to Hermione. “I won’t touch you until you eat both of those. Once we get you over the worst of this first wave, then I’ll fix you something more substantial.”

“Yes, Andromeda.”

“And if we’re about to spend the next few days together intimately, you might as well call me Andy.” Her smile was a bit weak, but not ingenuine. “I think calling me by my nickname won’t be remiss after this.”

“Andy.” Hermione smiled, a bit dreamily around the edges. She opened up one of the granola bars and started chewing as directed. Before she could even think of it, Andy was handing her a bottle of water to sip as she ate. Every bit of her brain that was taken over by her heat practically purred at the action. She diligently ate both of the bars and drank the rest of the second bottle of water and laid back again. Merlin, even just having Andy in the room was doing wonders for her, let alone what she could do to ease her suffering once her heat came roaring back once again. This was certainly the best she’d felt in at least twenty-four hours.

She watched, sipping her water as Andy shed the shorts with the ruined button along with her underwear and finally her bra. Hermione licked her lips, looking over the other woman. She was still in great shape, toned arms and legs, breasts that had Hermione’s mouth water to taste them, and oh, what really drew her attention was the beginnings of a growing shaft between Andy’s legs. She moaned looking at it, wishing it would finish elongating so she could have her way with it. Just a bit of heat was coming back to her as she finally threw the empty water bottle in the trash.

“Good girl,” Andy said, finally climbing on the bed with Hermione, hovering over her, eyes still seeking permission even though Hermione had given it. She nodded without hesitation. She wanted this woman in her bed, above her, doing ungodly things to her as soon as possible. Especially if she called her a good girl again. That was going to have to be another thing she reflected on at the end of this, but that was rather beside the point.

“Is it starting to come back again?” Andy asked.

Hermione nodded and arched her back, pushing her chest towards the woman. She wanted attention. Her alpha should give her attention. That’s what she was supposed to do, right?

“I can smell it on you again, faintly. Ten minutes from just an orgasm, though, isn’t a bad break considering before I was here it was half a minute max. That’s a good sign. I was a bit worried that even having an alpha wouldn’t help you as much as it should.”

A traitorous part of her brain whispered that another alpha wouldn’t have helped as much as Andy was. Instead of thinking about that she just reached for the other woman, trying to draw their bodies together, but Andy stopped her, grabbing her wrist with steady, inescapable fingers. She drew her arm up over Hermione’s head and pressed it into the mattress. 

“No, no touching me yet.”

Hermione lifted her other arm above her head without word. If she didn’t she knew that she would give into temptation. The other woman just looked delicious, but if Andy didn’t want her to touch yet, well then she’d do her damnedest. For now anyway.

A slow smirk grace Andy’s face and it was perhaps the sexiest thing that Hermione had seen ever. “Well, you do live up to your reputation as brightest witch of your age, now don’t you?”

Hermione nodded eagerly. Of course she did. She had always been so eager to please, it seemed now was definitely not an exception.

“Good.” And then Andy was kissing her, all hot possession and dominance. Hermione melted into it, grabbing hold of the sheets so she didn’t circle her arms around the other woman’s neck. She opened her mouth to the other woman, letting her in, tasting her, moaning into the kiss. Andy tasted of something spicy, chai perhaps? She wondered if that was the other woman’s favored version of tea, or something she just drank on occasion. It certainly hadn’t been what she’d served Hermione a few days before, but she would gladly drink it, if this was what Andy tasted like afterwards. It sent her head spinning, pulled her back into submissiveness while still actively participating in the kiss.

Andy pulled back from the kiss, looking down at Hermione with eyes blown wide with lust. “Chocolate tastes good on you.”

Hermione laughed. There had been chocolate chips in those granola bars. A little extra sugar, especially now, wasn’t going to hurt her, especially if Andy liked it. “Why eat a granola bar if there _isn’t_ chocolate in it?”

Andy snorted. “My kind of woman.” And she leaned back in and kissed her way down Hermione’s neck, spending long moments, sucking on the skin there in multiple places, leaving a trail of bruises that Hermione was sure wouldn’t fade before the end of her heat. She felt a gush of wetness coat the inside of her already soaked thighs. Andy was marking her. Oh _Merlin_ , that was far more attractive than she thought it would be, but no, she _wanted_ people to know that Andy had had her like this. Far less permanent than a bite, just the right amount of possessiveness, it was perfect. She cried out at a particularly hard nip, squirming underneath the other woman, but she didn’t relent. Instead, she kissed down Hermione’s neck to her chest, giving it the same treatment. She glanced down to see bruises blooming across her chest, red and glistening, proof that Andy’s mouth had been there.

“Oh Morgana,” she groaned as the older witch finally took one of her nipple’s into her mouth, licking until it was a peak harder than a rock, then sucking, sending jolts of pleasure right to Hermione’s core. Fingers came up to pinch the other, neglected nipple and she felt like she was going out of her mind, this time from pleasure rather than pain. Now this, this was the way to go if she had to go out early.

Andy sat up just enough to smirk up at Hermione. “Enjoying yourself, Hermione?”

“Yes.” Her voice was a breathy, broken thing. She couldn’t help it. Everything felt too good right now, even as the desire in her body ratcheted up higher. There was no need to hurry the other woman on her way. What Andy was doing now was only going to make the end result feel that much better, she was sure.

“Wonderful.” And she switched sides, tormenting the other nipple with her mouth and just a hint of teeth. Hermione wished she could bury her hands in Andy’s hair. It looked so soft and Godric, she just wanted to touch the other woman period, but to hold her to her chest, to silently demand she keep up the pressure, the sweet torment, that sounded heavenly.

She didn’t even get the chance to ask before Andy was moving down her body, kissing, every inch of skin, no longer leaving bruises, but rather eagerly going towards a destination now. It took Hermione a minute of descending kisses to realize what Andy was planning on doing and then she moaned loud enough that Andy arched an eyebrow at her in question. She felt herself blushing and looking away. No one had ever eaten her out before. She had no idea what it felt like, but just the _thought_ of Andy having her mouth on her most intimate areas was beyond arousing.

“Please, I know what you’re going to do. Please, I need it.” She was sure that an orgasm from Andy pleasuring her with just her tongue would be more than a measly ten minute break. If she wanted it. But she found she didn’t want a break now. Oh no, she wanted to continue until Andy was knotted inside of her, filling her up with come. Then she could take a break and enjoy it.

“Oh,” Andy purred. “Are you familiar with cunnilingus then, darling.”

Hermione shook her head. “No, I’ve only had sex a few times, and never that. Just the straightforward stuff.” They hadn’t really even gotten into hand jobs and fingering, it had just been straight to the act itself after a decent amount of kissing and grinding on one another. It was all so childish in a way, though it hadn’t been a bad first experience, really.

Her eyes flashed and a deep growl reverberated through the air. “Then I have a great many things to show you, don’t I?” Her hand came up to cup Hermione’s face. “It’s rather intoxicating to know I’ll be the first one to make you scream like this and the first one to knot you. So many things will be mine and mine alone.”

Hermione’s breath rushed out of her chest. Good Godric, Salazar, and Rowena, that short circuited her brain beyond rational thought. The only thing she could think was she was glad that it was Andy and no one else.

“I want them to to be yours.”

Andy’s smile was bright as the sun for a long moment before she set herself back to her task, crawling down the last bit of Hermione’s body to lay between her thighs. “Oh love, you’re so wet and it’s everywhere. I’ll clean you up, don’t you worry.” Her tongue flashed out, coasting over the insides of Hermione’s thighs, making the muscles there twitch and strain. She giggled a bit at the feeling, it tickled at the same time as it stoked the fires of pleasure in her. 

“Andy can I please touch you, please!” she called out as Andy’s tongue swept dangerously close to where she wanted it, before continuing on the other side, 

“No, not yet.”

Hermione let out a devastated noise, but she followed directions. She kept her hands where they were, twisted in the bedsheets, as Andy licked every drop of wetness from her thighs before she finally had mercy on Hermione and touched her tongue to Hermione’s core. She couldn’t help but scream at the contact. In an instant she hoped that Andy had had the presence of mind to put up a silencing spell around the room. She would possibly die if one of her neighbors heard her screaming and called the cops. Then again, that would be predicated on them actually going to answer the door to let them in, which she didn’t think Andy was about to let them do. So it would probably be fine. Probably.

She felt Andy smirk into wet skin as she licked a long, slow stripe up Hermione from opening to clit, then returning to those places that had made her gasp the loudest or squirm the most until she was back where she started. Then, she did it again, and again, and again, and Hermione was completely out of her mind, lost in the pleasure, lost in the feel of Andromeda Tonks against her.

“Please, alpha, more,” she begged, not entirely aware of the words coming out of her mouth, but pleased with the results. Andy had decided to show her mercy, tongue more focused, spending more time licking around her clit, driving her up and up and up. Hermione had never felt this much pleasure before. She didn’t know if it was from being in heat, the act of oral sex itself, or the fact that it was Andy doing it, but the fact of the matter is, when she finally shattered, she was going to break into a million little rapture soaked pieces and she wouldn’t be in a hurry to reassemble herself.

Andy’s fingers probed at her entrance gently before two slipped in with ease. Hermione grunted at the feeling. It wasn’t all that she wanted, but it was so damned close it was criminal. Her brain didn’t know much of the difference, it was crying out, babbling over and over that her alpha was finally taking her. She writhed so much that Andy’s other arm trapped her hips against the bed, and the fact that she was pinned just made her fly higher. Strong alpha taking care of her just how she needed. She keened with Andy’s fingers crooked, hitting that right spot inside her once, twice, and then she was coming, screaming loud enough she could feel the ache already building in her throat from the strain.

When she came down, Andy was resting her chin on Hermione’s lower stomach, smirking like the cat who got the canary. “Satisfied?”

Hermione didn’t know what else to do but to nod weakly.

“Good, but we’re far from done.” She pushed herself up to kneel on her knees and Hermione’s eyes widened. Andy’s shaft was done extending now and oh god, that was definitely bigger than Ron had been, thicker too. And fuck it was everything she wanted and needed right now.

“I need it,” she whispered.

“I know you do, darling. And you’re going to have it in just a second.” She reached out and turned Hermione’s rather boneless body over until she was on her stomach and then pulled her hips up, settling her knees under her. Hermione almost couldn’t hold the position after coming so hard. Her muscles were barely obeying her, but after a rather firm pat on her ass after her body threatened to give out, she managed to find the strength to do it. “Do you mind being taken like this?” Andy asked, hands now massaging Hermione’s ass, easing away the sting from her earlier blow.

She pressed back into the touch, sighing at just how good the other woman’s hands felt on her. “No.” If anything it felt right. There were bolts of arousal running through her, pumping wetness from her entrance. Her brain was chanting over and over that her alpha was going to take her and knot her like she should.

“Wonderful, darling, I find this position is the best for such things, even if there are some...advantages of others. It will be easier like this your first time anyway.” 

And then the blunt head of Andy’s shaft was pressing against her entrance and Hermione thought she’d died and gone to heaven. “Fuck! Oh fucking Merlin above.”

Andy’s chuckle was low, deep, and too arousing as she pressed herself into Hermione’s back, wrapping her arms around her hips as she slowly pressed into the younger witch inch by inch. “I surely hope it’s not Merlin fucking you, dear,” she purred in Hermione’s ear. “Last I checked I was a powerful witch, not a wizard. I don’t think a long white beard isn’t quite my style, do you?”

Her curls brushed against the skin of Hermione’s back, leaving her breathless. The light counterpoint to the continued parting of her over Andy’s shaft was driving her up the wall. She felt the sheets starting to rip under her hands, caving under the sparks of magic that she couldn’t contain. Then Andy was fully seated inside her, and the sparks of uncontained magic became a torrent. She felt it flow out around her, feeling something growing almost, but not understanding what or how or really caring just yet. No, what she cared about was Andy moving in the next three seconds before she had to do it herself, alpha dominance be damned.

“Oh, Hermione, it’s beautiful,” Andy breathed out, pulling herself up off the younger witch’s back, and shifting around just enough to let Hermione know she was turning her head this way and that, taking it in.

That was enough for her to open her eyes and lift her head from where it was buried in the bedsheets. She gasped, looking around at the walls of the room, now coated in flowering vines, honeysuckle if she remembered right. The smell that washed over them was amazing and intoxicating in its own right.

“I did that?” She asked, knowing full well she had. She had felt the magic rip from her after all.

“You did.” Andy’s voice was full of a hushed awe.

“What does it mean?” She pushed herself up on her hands, but then immediately fell back to the bed at feeling Andy shift inside her with the movement. 

“I’m not sure. They don’t exactly cover this in healer training. I’d have to do some research but…” she trailed off. “This much magic, Hermione--”

“Has to mean something,” Hermione finished for her. Wild magic was always for a reason, even if it wasn’t immediately obvious. In little children it was usually to vent feelings they had no other outlet for, but wild magic in adults? There were deeper seated meanings. Hermione had been overwhelmed, yes, but still. Nothing like she had felt when she was younger.

“Yes, but we’ll figure that out when we can. I’m sure between the two of us we’ll find something. But for now.” She pulled back out of Hermione until just the tip of her was left in. Hermione whimpered at the empty feeling, but Andy didn’t leave her like that for long before pushing back in slowly. “For now I’m going to fuck you until my knot pops and then I’m going to push it into you and pump you full of my come. And you’re going to beg for it.”

Hermione’s breath stopped dead in her throat. She tried to swallow, tried to do anything, but it was impossible. Andy pulled out again and only then did she make a sound, a moan that she couldn’t much help, but beyond that, she was still frozen. Her brain would process the image of Andy locked inside her at some point, but it wasn’t going to be anytime soon.

“You feel so wonderful, darling, hot and wet, drawing me in like a good girl. Your body wants this so badly.” Andy’s words were like fire on her skin. “You want everything I said and more. To be claimed so thoroughly that no one will question who the Golden Girl belongs to, don’t you?”

“I do!” Hermione finally found words again, needing to respond. Her omega was sobbing she was so happy with what Andy was saying.

“Oh so good to hear, Hermione, so very, very good to hear.” And then Andy picked up the pace of her thrusts, lifting Hermione higher, sending magic currents over her skin again, amplifying the pleasure set felt by ten. She was a livewire of pleasure and at some point she was going to catch fire, it was the way of things, but she wasn’t at her flashpoint, not just yet.

“Andy, Andy, Andy,” she chanted, thrusting back into the other woman. Andy didn’t chastise her for it, in fact if anything she seemed to speed up her thrusts again. Hermione sobbed her relief out into the sheets below her. The feeling of being fucked by Andy became her whole world, narrowing to the feeling of skin on skin and the grunts and moans the other woman let out as she took Hermione hard.

Andy slipped a hand from gripping onto Hermione’s hips, around until she found her clit, stroking lightly, sending Hermione over the edge once more before she even realized she was near it. She howled into the bed, muffling her cries in the soft fabric, but then there was a hand in her hair, pulling her up, and it shouldn’t feel so good, being held by the roots, but it did. It arched her into a new position where Andy could hit places she hadn’t before. She moaned out again, sensitive from her orgasm, but nowhere near wanting the other woman to stop.

“No, no, darling, I want to hear you.”

“Yes, alpha!” Hermione groaned out, feeling another climax about to hit her so near the first.

“Good girl.” And those words were all it took to send her into a second, stronger orgasm. She felt herself almost as a double, floating above her body and still right where she should be all at once. It was an odd feeling, but not unpleasant. She had no idea that coming so hard could even do such a thing, but here she was, feeling Andy still thrusting hard inside her, panting and grunting, driving them both further and further towards the final completion, and also as if she was watching it as a third party observer. She could see Andy biting her lip in focus, see the grip she had on tanned hips as she slammed home, hard enough to turn the skin below her fingers white, see the beads of sweat on her forehead. It only drove her farther towards the next orgasm.

She slammed back into her own body for good when she finally felt the beginnings of Andy’s knot. “I need it!” She pleaded. If she didn’t get that knot inside her it, she truly believed the world might just end, at least for her, here and there.

“Just a little more,” Andy soothed, one hand rubbing up and down Hermione’s back in a calming manner. Her thrusts sped up to a rather insane speed, pounding into Hermione hard enough to shake the bed like there was a city ending earthquake going on. She squirmed, meeting Andy thrust for thrust, feeling her knot inflate slowly. Too slowly. She was keening, demanding it without words, but Andy’s body was just not cooperating with her.

“Please, Andy, please, please, Merlin, just give it to me!” Her will sank into her magic, but it had nowhere to go. She could feel it interacting with Andy’s magic, but that was all the farther it went. It couldn’t manifest her wants and needs, not this time. She whined. Her magic had never failed her. Why couldn’t it just do this one thing for her. Surely she had enough knowledge and power to make it work.

“Fucking hell!” Andy growled and the next thrust forward, Hermione could feel the full weight of her knot pressing at her entrance. Oh Circe, how was she supposed to fit it inside her? But her omega brain didn’t give a damn about the laws of physics and her body’s limits, she needed it, and she needed it now. “Relax, Hermione, just relax for me baby.”

Hermione forced herself to obey Andy. She worked her way up her body, relaxing each and every one of her muscles as Andy pressed in. Andy’s fingers were on her clit again, rubbing, helping her open up to the pressing pressure she desperately needed.

“Almost there, I can feel it.”

Her breathing sped up, her body getting ready for another orgasm as soon as Andy was locked inside her. She could feel in just how tightly she was strung that it was going to be a massive one. She wasn’t sure if she would even stay conscious through the whole thing. She didn’t much care.

And then Andy was in with one last bruising thrust, popping in and locking them together. Andy thrust forward to bury herself as far in as possible, and then she was coming, filling Hermione to the brim with come. Hermione’s body went beyond the need to scream. She couldn’t make any noise now as she came, silent, face contorted in brutal pleasure. Oh fuck, oh good god damn, she understood now why no one really complained about heats when they had a partner to ride them out with. This was ascendent. She felt like a goddess, one who climbed higher in the pantheon with every spurt of Andy’s come inside her. Her vision whited out, her orgasm lasting for so long her body couldn’t help it. It was too much feeling and yet it went on and on and she never wanted it to end. She sank into the feeling willingly and let her sense of self go.

Of course she did come out of it eventually, in fits and starts. The feeling of Andy came back to her, still very much locked inside of her, holding in what had to be a truly massive amount of come. A shiver of an aftershock went through her at the thought. She wasn’t on her stomach anymore, but her side and an arm was wrapped around her waist, pulling her back into a warm body. She sighed and snuggled back into Andy. 

“Ah, back to the land of the living, are you?”

“I think so,” Hermione said, voice rough and scratchy. Maybe she had screamed and just hadn’t realized it.

Andy chuckled darkly right in Hermione’s ear and she shivered again, drawing a moan from the other witch. “Damn it woman, at this rate we’ll be tied for half a day. You’re so very responsive. Not that I mind, mind you, but at some point we’ll need more than granola bars.”

“Then you’ve really got to stop laughing like that. Or talking. Or touching. I can’t really be held accountable for how long this lasts if you do any of those things.”

“Is that your way of saying you find me incredibly attractive, darling?” Andy drew her closer, their whole bodies pressed together now from knee to shoulder.

“You have looked in a mirror, yes?”

This time Andy’s laugh was free and genuine. “A time or two, yes.”

They settled down again. Hermione found one of Andy’s hands and laced her fingers through hers. It felt so nice to just lie here with the other woman.

“But yes, Andy,” Hermione finally said after a few quiet minutes. “I do find you incredibly attractive, I think I always have. Granted, I’m not sure I would’ve put two and two together before this, but.” She shrugged lightly. “When presented with new information, you certainly should change your point of view.”

A soft kiss was dropped on her shoulder. “I suppose the same thing might be said of myself.”

“I’m glad it was you. I mean, the situation could have been improved and I hope that you won’t find anything to regret about this, but I certainly don’t already, and I don’t think I will even after the last of the heat hormones fade. I’m fairly clear minded right now, more than I have been since this whole mess started a week ago, and I really, really appreciate that it was you. There’s no one else I would’ve wanted to spend my first heat with.”

Andy was quiet for a long few moments that had Hermione worrying that she’d said something wrong. She thought over her words again, but she didn’t think she’d said anything concerning or offensive. Merlin, if Andy left now after the tie finally went down, she would be heartbroken. She knew that there was some connection forged during a shared heat, what with all the hormones floating around, but that didn’t really cover the warmth, peace, and serenity she felt in the moment. Andy had been her friend before. She had truly liked the woman. Even through letters alone she’d been one of Hermione’s closest friends, and she didn’t really have many of those. If she had ruined this all somehow, she would never forgive herself. 

“I’m...I’m glad I could be here for you. I regret nothing about this either. I’m just...” she trailed off, squeezing Hermione’s hand and burying her face in her shoulder.

Realization dawned on Hermione. “It’s the first time you’ve been with anyone since.”

Andy nodded. “Yes.” She laughed quietly. “Not exactly conducive to getting back out there when you have a grandson to raise, but to be honest I haven’t wanted to. This is...to share the first time with a trusted friend, I think is a good step. Ted would want me to be happy, would want me to find someone else and move on. I know. We talked about it.”

“But it’s hard.” Hermione wished she could turn around and look at the woman while they were talking, but tied as they were that wasn’t possible. Perhaps there was something freeing in the fact that they couldn’t look at each other.

“It is. Life is like that normally, let alone in a war and in the aftermath.” She took a deep breath, nose finding its way behind Hermione’s ear where one of her newly acquired scent glands lived. She relaxed into the younger woman again, nose staying buried right where it was.

“I know. I can’t imagine what it’s like to live through two in a lifetime.”

“It isn’t a walk in the park.” Andy drew her even closer still and Hermione could no longer really tell where she ended and the other woman began. Her magic hummed under her skin, so very content at this situation.

Hermione snorted. “No, I very much doubt it would be. Not when you’ve lost so much in each.”

“The first war, everything then didn’t feel like much of a sacrifice. It was a confirmation that I had made the right choice six years before. Losing family who hate people for things that shouldn’t matter, it isn’t a loss, not really. And now...Narcissa has reached out a few times. I think, I think she might actually be a different person now, but it’s hard to let her in. She wants to meet, but I avoid it.”

Hermione brought their joined hands to her lips, pressing a gentle kiss there. “If this was a step in the right direction, finally being with another person, then wouldn’t meeting with Narcissa be the same?”

“But if it doesn’t work out... Hope isn’t a very Slytherin trait, Hermione. It’s all lost on you Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs. Slytherins are all about thinking of the worst and planning for it. I’m not sure I could take the worst right now.”

“The worst that could happen is that it goes back to the way it was before. You would lose nothing. This certainly had more a risk, and yet here we are. Was it not worth it?”

“It...it was. But it could all blow up in the long run.” Andy’s voice was so hesitant, different than Hermione had ever heard it. Her magic flowed to the other woman to comfort her with warmth. She felt Andy accept it, pulling it into herself, sighing as she was soothed.

“And the world could be hit by an asteroid tomorrow. I’m a planner, I am, but at some point you have to set things aside and take a chance, even if you aren’t a stupidly brave Gryffindor.” Hermione ran a soothing thumb over the back of Andy’s hand. “And if you need someone to come with you to the first meeting for support, I’d be happy to.” She felt the slightest bit of wetness on her neck, but didn’t comment. If Andy needed to shed a few tears, well then that was her right as a healthy adult.

“Thank you, Hermione, I might just take you up on that.”

“Good.” 

They laid for another few minutes before Andy started fussing over her again. “You need to eat another granola bar and have some more water.”

She turned enough so she could look at Andy, barely, over her shoulder. “Only if you do too.”

Andy rolled her eyes but nodded. “Fair enough. We might be here for a while.”

“Hey, you’re the rather virile alpha here. I’m not the reason we can’t pull apart and find something better than granola bars and water.” She felt the other woman preening at the ‘virile alpha’ part of that sentence. Alphas. Figured.

“And I’m not the one who only put granola bars in the drawer, now am I?”

Hermione summoned her wand with a thought. “Accio cheese tray.” In a few seconds a cheese tray she’d prepared the day before flew into the room and stopped before her, hovering expectantly. “The granola bars were the backup. I am in my own house. With a fridge. Easy enough to prepare things and leave them there until they were needed.” She turned to stick out her tongue at Andy.

The alpha growled. “Be careful with that tongue, Miss Granger, or I’ll find something else besides eating to do with it.”

“And then who’s fault will it be to us staying tied together again?”

Andy grabbed the cheese tray and set it on the bed before them. “Oh, it will be mine, gladly. Because while I want us to come undone at some point, this isn’t the only time we will be tied together like this. I’ll have you tied to me as many times as possible, for so long you forget what it’s like to be separate from me.”

“Promises, promises, alpha.” She picked up a nice cube of cheddar and popped it in her mouth, chewing. Oh gods, now that she was finally clear headed enough to feel it, she was _starving_ ,

“They aren’t promises, omega, they are guarantees. You and I are going to have a lovely next few days if it’s the last thing I do.” Andy thrust inside her, moving just enough to send Hermione’s body into overload again. Oh Merlin, help her.

\--

Hermione woke on the morning of the fifth day and yawned. Everything was a little less cloudy. She could feel the last vestiges of hormones floating around, nudging her to action once more, but there was none of the true urgency from the days before. She looked at the clock, they’d actually managed to sleep for six hours, their longest stretch yet. She felt almost well rested after so long asleep. She moved to stretch, dislodging a now soft Andy from her body, feeling her come slide from her and onto the sheets. Thank Godric for magic or she would’ve ruined so many sets of sheets these past few days. She grabbed her wands and cleaned everything up. Well, if nothing was too urgent quite yet, she was going to go make them a real breakfast. Andy had taken care of cooking the few hot meals they’d managed for the last few days, it was only fair that she returned the favor now that she was feeling more like a person.

She pushed herself from the bed carefully and turned around once she was standing to watch Andy, still sleeping peacefully. She sighed looking at the other woman, smiling. She had been right. She was truly glad it was Andy. And even though this was almost over, she didn’t want it to end, not really. Or at least not in its entirety. She had a few ideas on how to do that, but she wasn’t yet sure of the reception she’d get. Considering her own pep talk to Andy after their first coupling, she should probably take her own advice and go for it, but well, she still had a bit of time to figure out the right approach, to gather more information, so she would use it wisely.

Hermione slipped from the room and downstairs, still very much naked. Clothes would still feel like too much, she was certain, she could still feel the air curling around her skin, hitting her like she could feel every molecule, and if she was careful her state of dress wouldn’t matter anyway. She set about making a full English breakfast, quietly humming to herself. She sipped on a mug of tea, welcoming the warmth spreading through her. She’d missed tea. It hadn’t made it onto any of the trays Andy had brought her. Then again, most of what Andy had brought her had been very carb heavy, sustaining foods that she had definitely needed, what with all the rather physical activity, but still. Tea was a simple comfort and pleasure now that she had it again.

Just as Hermione was plating all of the food, she heard footsteps on the stairs and a few seconds later, Andy appeared in the doorway, looking sleep rumpled still. Hermione smiled softly seeing her. Oh, her heart, this woman, this amazing woman, whatever was she going to do with her.

“You made a full breakfast?” she asked, walking to one of the stools at the island and sinking down, grabbing one of the plates and pulling it towards her eagerly.

“I did. I think we rather deserve it, don’t you?” She gestured to the kettle. “Water is still hot, would you like a cup?”

“Merlin, yes, please. Just a bit of milk, nothing else, if you would.”

Hermione laughed quietly. “And now you’re a woman after my own heart. That’s exactly how I take it.”

“A woman of good taste then.” She smiled before biting into a sausage with relish. “Merlin, Hermione, your cooking is wonderful.”

Hermione blushed as she prepared her mug of tea and then slid it over to her before grabbing her own mug and sitting down on the stool beside her, pulling the other plate to her and starting to eat. She moaned at the taste of a perfectly fried egg. Sometimes cooking with magic was more trouble than it was worth, but eggs, oh eggs somehow always came out better with a bit of magic.

They ate in comfortable silence. Hermione’s left hand reached out during the middle of the meal to find Andy’s right. It was rather handy that Andy was left handed and that she could hold her hand while they both ate. She smiled into her tea and continued to eat, a little less efficiently than if she’d had both hands, but she was markedly happier about it. This was the sort of peace she imagined would happen after the end of the war. She hadn’t gotten it then, not when there was so much to rebuild, but experiencing it now was decent enough. Better late than never and all that, she supposed.

She sat back from a mostly empty plate to find Andy already done, looking at her with a soft expression. Hermione cocked her head, asking a silent question, but Andy just shook her head. She pulled her wand out of seemingly nowhere and cleaned up the dishes with a quick flick of ivy wood before gracefully dismounting the stool and pulling on Hermione’s hand gently.

“I think we best get back to the bedroom again.”

Hermione squinted, taking stock of herself. Over the last few days Andy had become more in tune with her needs, she’d gotten good at predicting just when Hermione would require attention again and have her worked up and halfway to being knotted again before she could even whine once, but she didn’t really feel a pressing need just yet. It was there, lingering, waiting to be taken care of eventually, but surely she could finish her mug of tea first. But Andy was standing there, small smile on her face, waiting, looking her over with hungry eyes, and Hermione couldn’t really deny the woman anything, especially not right now. So she left her tea on the counter and followed her back upstairs.

Andy closed the door of her bedroom and pinned her up against it, hungry look on her face. And suddenly Hermione wondered if it wasn’t her who needed the next round at all. The older woman leaned down to kiss her, taking possession of her mouth as she had been wont to do their entire time together. Hermione very much didn’t mind. She kissed back wrapping her arms around Andy’s neck and sighed. It felt like a perfect lazy Sunday morning, kissing like this, though she had no idea what day it was anymore. Time blurred when you didn’t sleep regularly and spent most of the rest of the time fucking an absolutely stunning woman.

She pulled back and looked down at Hermione, lips already swollen and kiss bruised from just how fiercely she’d been kissing the younger witch. “I’d take you right up against this door if that wasn’t a magnificently horrible idea for when we’re knotted together.”

Hermione laughed at that. They’d have to rather awkwardly shuffle to the bed to lay down and wait out the tie. Oh yes, that would be a disaster and probably a decently painful one if they made the wrong move. But that didn’t rule it out entirely. “You could just finger me against the door instead.”

Andy thought it over for a moment before shaking her head. “No, I need to be inside you right now, I think.” She scooped up Hermione and carried her the three steps from the door to the bed, straining a bit, but considering her size and muscle mass, she probably shouldn’t have been able to at all. Hermione’s breath hitched. And now she certainly had a mighty need to have the other woman inside her too, hormones now raging at the forefront at that display of strength from her alpha.

Andy threw her on the bed and Hermione smirked up at the other woman as she crawled backwards towards the middle. “And here I thought that you sensed me going into another heat flare, dragging me up here. You’re the one who needed me for once.”

The older witch drew in a deep breath. “Well, however this started, you certainly need me now, don’t you?”

Hermione shrugged at that. Five days of absolute mind bending want would train anyone out of feeling shame over it sooner or later. “I do. What are you gonna do about it?”

Andy climbed over the bed to hover over Hermione, echoing their first time. She smiled up at the woman and wrapped her arms around her neck once again. This time though, she was going to touch Andy as much as she liked. And she very much liked to touch the other woman, all smooth skin and curves and beauty.

“Well, after such a breakfast, I was planning on taking things a bit slower than normal.” She kissed the tip of Hermione’s nose. “Despite how much I want to rut into you as hard as possible until my knot pops and we’re both screaming. Besides.” She lowered herself down, pressing their bodies together. Hermione gasped at the feel of Andy’s shaft pressed between her lips, already so hard and ready for her. “I don’t know about you, darling, but after five days and slackening off of rut hormones, I find myself just a bit sore.”

Hermione nodded at that. Oh she was. When this was all over she was going to run the hottest bath she could and ply a warming charm to it so she could stay in as long as she needed to to relax every single one of her muscles. That and she wasn’t having any sort of sex for at least a week, maybe two. Her poor vagina had been rather abused, resilient as it was, it needed rest.

“Then something at a slower pace will have to do, won’t it?”

“Any way you want to have me is fine with me.” She pulled Andy down into a kiss that the other woman quickly took over once again. Hermione hummed into the kiss, relishing the closeness, breathing the other woman in, letting her hands wander over the soft skin of her back, down to her supple ass, squeezing it in her hands, loving the feel of it, and loving just how much it spurred Andy on. The other woman groaned into her mouth, grinding her hips against Hermione slowly.

“Merlin,” Hermione panted out, hardly separating from Andy, practically speaking the word into mouth.

Andy laughed quietly. “After days of me, you would rather think you would get the message that it is decidedly not Merlin ravaging you.”

“I wouldn’t want him to be, anyway. But what else am I supposed to say when you kiss me like that, or you touch me like you do, or a thousand other things. I don’t have the words to say anything else even mildly appropriate.”

She pulled back enough to look at Hermione, her expression so very soft. “Sometimes it is so very, very clear that you’ve read a thousand books and more, darling. You have a way with words.”

“Thank you.” And she genuinely meant it. She let the serious reply sit for a few seconds to show that it had weight before she added, “But you should’ve seen me during N.E.W.T.s. I’m fairly certain I forgot what all language was because of stress.”

Andy laughed, tucking her face into Hermione’s neck, her nose finding its favored place behind her ear. Hermione relaxed totally in her grip. Tucked together like this just felt so right. Her magic sang, content and happy in a way that she didn’t feel at any other time. The fact that she would have to let this go for at least a while in a few hours pulled at her in ways she didn’t quite understand. The vines around the room shivered with the thought, rustling in a nonexistent breeze. She hadn’t had time to undo whatever spell she had worked to summon them yet, but at least no other bouts of magic had burst forth from her. She already had a sneaking suspicion that the vines were going to be hard enough to get rid of without taking some other mess into consideration.

“Before my O.W.L.s I went through so much calming cream that I smelled like lavender and lilac for two months afterward no matter what I did. To this day I won’t go near the stuff. I might have remembered what words were, but I was no better off, really.”

Hermione snickered. “Sounds about right. There’s a part of me that wonders at just how practical it is to have two sets of tests given to literal children determine their entire future.”

Andy hummed. “You have a point, but, I think we have other things to think about, yes?” She ground her hips into Hermione again. Hermione shuddered as the head of Andromeda’s shaft caught her clit, sending tired sparks through her.

“You’re not wrong. So fuck me alpha, like you said you would.”

“As you wish.” She pushed herself up onto her elbows, dropping a hand down to position herself before she slowly pushed into Hermione. Hermione groaned even as the stretch was so familiar now. It was still quite possibly the best thing she’d ever felt in her life, high on hormones, giving her body exactly what it craved. There was always a bit of relief when Andy fully sheathed herself inside, a prelude to the bliss of being knotted, but it never did last long. She whined, just barely audible, and Andy smiled down at her before she started to move. 

Andy’s pace was slow, so slow, but she kissed Hermione again, her clever tongue making her forget all about it, rooting her in the moment solidly as their bodies rubbed together, skin against skin, building the heat between them, like embers being revived into a roaring fire once more. Her nipples brushed against Andy’s own, causing them both to gasp and do it again and again. It was delicious, taking their time like this. With slow strokes, Hermione’s clit found its home against Andy’s lower stomach with every thrust, nudging up higher just enough to keep things so very interesting. Her hands coasted over muscles at work, tracing shifts of skin as one set would flex and another would relax. She wondered just how Andy had stayed so fit over the years. She might like to watch one of these days, just to see a sweaty Andromeda in another type of situation. One that might lead right back to this type of sweaty situation, if she had her way.

“So nice like this,” Andy murmured into Hermione’s lips before going back to kissing her, and if anything about the other woman was dark magic, it was her wicked, wicked mouth.

Hermione couldn’t help but agree. Being taken from behind, being taken hard and fast, they had been wonderful, but this, oh this. She hadn’t enjoyed slow and sweet so well with Ron, but with Andy it was a revelation. She wanted to stay in this moment, want to feel the other woman against her for all time. With every encounter they’d had before this, she didn’t want it to end, and as much as she had needed climax, as much as she had needed a hard fuck, she wished they could have lasted forever. Touching like this, drawing it out so much, it felt more like it truly could last forever.

“Yeah.” Hermione’s voice was a breathless sigh, grabbing air between kisses. She felt the first telltale stirrings of an orgasm, her muscles starting to bunch themselves up for release, that tingling feeling that rested behind her clit until she finally tipped over the edge starting to build. Even this slow, Andy could bring her to her peak. She wasn’t surprised. The woman was quite literally magic, they both were. She laughed quietly to herself at that, her own little private joke that only other muggleborns would truly get. After all, the wizarding world probably didn’t have that idiom. What use would it be?

“Almost there?” Andy asked.

“Mhm.” As lazy as the build had been, her brain was still rather fried climbing towards that razor edge.

“Come for me, Hermione.” Andy’s voice was soft, but underneath there was a layer of iron. Even like this, the woman was to be obeyed. The thought sent Hermione spiraling into her first orgasm of the session, helped along by Andy’s continued steady pace.

When her muscles relaxed again she opened her eyes, panting, little zings of pleasure still shooting up her spine from the aftershocks and from Andy’s continued attentions. “Morgana, you would think that after five days the orgasms would get a little less intense.”

Andy smirked. “Not if I can help it.”

“Alphas.” Hermione rolled her eyes affectionately. 

“I don’t see you complaining about my alpha status, darling. In fact most of the last hundred some odd hours have been you _begging_ for your alpha. In fact I think you’ll be begging again soon enough.”

Hermione thought on that for a minute. The slow rise of pleasure was starting again, how could it not when Andy knew just the places to hit to have her sighing and moaning, crawling towards yet another release. The need to be knotted climbing along with the impending bliss , but sluggish comparatively to the days prior. There was a chance by the time Andy popped her knot she wouldn’t be desperate enough to beg. A slow smirk curled onto her face. She hadn’t ever been able to resist egging someone on. Perhaps that was where her Gryffindor colors showed the most, though in this case, she certainly didn’t mind. Taunting Andy might just lead to some rather spectacular things.

“That isn’t a guarantee, not when I’m so much more in control this time. And a slow fuck doesn’t exactly scream desperation, no?”

Andy leaned down and kissed Hermione, slow and lazy, exploring every part of her mouth, leaving her breathless and totally unaware of what they’d been speaking about minutes before. “I think with the right partner, no matter how you fuck, desperation can be achieved.”

Hermione blinked up at her owlishly. She tried to remember what she’d said, tried to remember something other than the way Andy felt inside her or the feel of Andy’s lips on hers, the taste of her tongue in her mouth. But it was increasingly difficult. Andy’s fingers found her clit, stroking lightly, hips bumping her fingers in that slow steady rhythm, putting more pressure just where she needed it, driving her crazy. She moaned, dragging her nails down Andy’s back lightly. She felt the marks she had left before, healing scratch marks that had been rather deeper than she meant, but Andy had insisted on leaving them, only healing them enough so they didn’t bleed anymore. The thought that Andy wanted to feel the marks she’d left on her after this had spurred them into another round then, and was enough to put her right back on the edge again now. She wanted to plead for her release, but that thought paused on her tongue. They had been talking about that, hadn’t they? Though why?

Then Andy’s fingers found just the right spot on the next downstroke and it didn’t matter much why. She arched into the orgasm, letting it wash over her in golden pleasure tinged waves. Every muscle in her body felt like mush and even though she felt like she needed more, part of her also felt like she could sleep for an age. Her eyes slipped closed again, sighing, luxuriating in the feel of being so completely relaxed for a few moments, even as Andy kept up that slow thrusting, a soft sheen of sweat now covering her whole body from her efforts. It just made her smell that much more delicious. 

“Andy,” she breathed out, hands moving just enough to tangle in the other woman’s curls and pull her down for a kiss. This sort of gentle closeness made her feel lighter than air, and yet Andy grounded her, preventing her from floating off into the great unknown.

“Darling,” Andy replied after breaking the kiss.

“So good, Andy.” The need was rising higher now, even as she didn’t have nearly the energy to deal with it.

“I know, my darling.” She grunted quietly and Hermione felt the beginning of her knot slip in and back out, growing slowly with every thrust. “Are you going to be a good girl and take my knot for the last time?”

Hermione nodded, turning her face into the pillow she was laying on. Her magic rose to the surface, just as sluggish as she was now, but still so very ready for their joining. She sensed its anticipation, felt Andy’s own magic pressing against her, a little more demanding, a bit more energetic. She gasped as Andy’s magic actually flowed into her. It was the first time the other woman had allowed it, always keeping back, always letting Hermione be the one to reach out. Now, though, she felt so much more than she had before. When reaching out to Andy, she felt echoes of the other woman, of course, but more she could feel her own magic contained in two bodies at once, feeling a doubling of sensations, tying them together more fully. But having Andy’s magic in her, she could feel the other woman intimately, every iota of her being, Hermione now had some access too.

“Andy please!” She begged, though she wasn’t sure what for, her knot, for their continuance after this heat passed, for her not to withdraw her magic ever again, or all of the above. Because feeling her like this, she couldn’t ever let the woman go. She had lent her magic to others before in the heat of battle and had received magic in kind as well, had felt her magic combine with Ron’s during their one night together, but nothing, _nothing_ had felt like this.

“Anything, Hermione.” And Andy pressed forward, her knot fully swollen now, slipping into Hermione with relative ease after five days of the same treatment. Hermione cried out, coming hard around her, milking her knot for everything it was worth and Andy responded. She came, moaning long and low as spurt after spurt of her come filled Hermione. Andy didn’t withdraw her magic, but let Hermione’s flow fully into her, a full exchange of magics, a doubling of doubled feelings and it was so much her brain was overloaded with it all, but she refused to pass out. She wanted to feel every single second of this come hell or high water.

She felt their magic both retreating at the same time, slowly at first, then a bit faster until she was completely back in her own body, with Andy’s now deflated knot slipping out of her. She blinked up at the shifted light in the room. Just how long had they been lost each other like that? She looked around, looking at the clock, but since she didn’t really know what time they had come together, she had no idea how long it had been. Perhaps as long as their average knotting has lasted before, around an hour and a half, but somehow she felt it was a bit more than that. Especially since she could still feel the slightest sliver of her magic in Andy and vice versa, small, easy to ignore if she wasn’t looking for it, but it was there.

Andy rolled off of her with a groan. “You must be officially over and done with. I thought that would be the last of it, but confirmation.” She gestured to her shaft which was shrinking, retreating back inside her to wait for her rut or the next heat she bore witness to.

Hermione hummed, reaching out to take Andy’s hand, sweeping her thumb over the soft skin of the back of her hand, a healer’s calluses pressed against her palm and fingers. “I feel wonderful, but so tired.”

“Mhm, you’ll sleep for the better part of a day to recover, it’s fairly normal. Quite frankly I could use about that much sleep too.”

Hermione looked over at the other woman, bathed in late morning light, the sun bringing out the gold and auburn highlights in her hair, lighting up the amber in her eyes, and a few flecks of green. Everyone always remarked that Andy and Bellatrix always looked so much alike, at least at first glance, but like this she could see how Andy resembled Naricssa too, a middling between her older and younger sister. Her heart ached for the older woman for a moment, and she sent a hope out to the universe that Andy’s reuniting with Narcissa would go well.

But for now what she really wanted from such a beautiful, sun drenched woman was, “Stay with me then?”

A slow, brilliant smile lit Andy’s face. “I’d like that a lot. Though I should get up first and owl Harry again to let him know I can pick up Teddy tomorrow.”

Hermione summoned quill, ink, and parchment without a word. She’d been getting better with nonverbal magic since the war, but ink and paper had always obeyed her silent commands even before she’d started her work with other spells. She handed them over to the other woman and clicked her tongue. Neith fluttered down onto the bed beside her, ducking her head for pats, which Hermione willingly supplied.

Andy scribbled off a note, attaching it to Neither after a few scritches, and sent her off. “Now I think I’m ready to sleep for an age.” She pulled Hermione to her, settling in, wrapping herself so tightly around Hermione there would be no escape. Not that she wanted any, oh no, this suited her just fine. She closed her eyes, basking in contentment at the rather perfect moment. She felt herself slipping off to sleep more and more by the second, but quiet words from Andy stopped her. “Hermione...do you have any plans Friday?”

Well considering she’d been rather tied up for the better part of a week and unable to actually make any plans with anyone, “No, not after a few meetings in the morning, why?”

“Have dinner with me?” She paused for a moment. “And most likely Teddy. I’ll have foisted him off on his godfather and probably by proxy Molly too much to do so again. I probably could, but--”

Hermione turned in her embrace to put a finger to her lips and still her. “I’d love to have dinner with both you and Teddy. Who wouldn’t want to have dinner with such a delightful young man.” She smiled at the other woman. “Why he just might sweep me off my feet after all.”

Andy laughed. “Say that again after he accidentally pelts you in the face with a sausage.”

“Well, I do need to keep up my reflexes. And to think I’d been thinking of joining a dueling club instead.”

“Don’t be fooled, he’s creeping up on two, he might be more dangerous than anyone at a dueling club.”

“I think I’m well equipped.”

Andy’s hand reached out to cup Hermione’s face. “And perhaps after dinner, if you should like, we could get into a little danger of our own making?”

Hermione leaned forward and captured the older witch’s lips in a kiss. Getting to know this woman more, perhaps letting whatever this was between them have a chance to truly bloom? “I’d love to.”


End file.
